Analysis of Of The Love Of Christ
John Bunyan 1628 (Elstow, Bedfordshire) – 1688 (London)
The love of Christ, poor I! may touch upon;
But 'tis unsearchable. O! there is none
Its large dimensions can comprehend
Should they dilate thereon world without end.
When we had sinned, in his zeal he swore,
That he upon his back our sins would bear.
And since unto sin is entailed death,
He vowed for our sins he'd lose his breath.
He did not only say, vow, or resolve,
But to astonishment did so involve
Himself in man's distress and misery,
As for, and with him, both to live and die.
To his eternal fame in sacred story,
We find that he did lay aside his glory,
Stepped from the throne of highest dignity,
Became poor man, did in a manger lie;
Yea, was beholden unto his for bread,
Had, of his own, not where to lay his head;
Though rich, he did for us become thus poor,
That he might make us rich for evermore.
Nor was this but the least of what he did,
But the outside of what he suffered?
God made his blessed son under the law,
Under the curse, which, like the lion's paw,
Did rent and tear his soul for mankind's sin,
More than if we for it in hell had been.
His cries, his tears, and bloody agony,
The nature of his death doth testify.
Nor did he of constraint himself thus give,
For sin, to death, that man might with him live.
He did do what he did most willingly,
He sung, and gave God thanks, that he must die.
But do kings use to die for captive slaves?
Yet we were such when Jesus died to save's.
Yea, when he made himself a sacrifice,
It was that he might save his enemies.
And though he was provoked to retract
His blest resolves for such so good an act,
By the abusive carriages of those
That did both him, his love, and grace oppose;
Yet he, as unconcerned with such things,
Goes on, determines to make captives kings;
Yea, many of his murderers he takes
Into his favour, and them princes makes.
Scheme | ABCCDEFFGGHIHHHIJJKDLMNNOOHIPQHIRRSTUUVVWWXX |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111111101 1111111 11010101 1101011011 111101111 11011110111 011011011 1111011111 1111011101 1101001101 0101010100 1101111101 11010101010 11111101110 1101110100 0111100101 1101010111 1111111111 1111110111 111111110 1111011111 101111110 111111001 1001110101 1101111111 1111110111 1111010100 010111110 1111010111 1111111111 1111111100 1101111111 1111111101 1101110111 111101010 1111111100 011101101 1101111111 1001010011 1111110101 11101111 1101011101 1101110011 011101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,780 |
Words | 353 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 44 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,392 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 351 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 1:47 min read
- 118 Views
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"Of The Love Of Christ" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22141/of-the-love-of-christ>.
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